I don’t know about you, but I don’t know what this structure is. Is it meant to be a drilling tender rig? Floating CPP? Let me know what you think. And if you know the vessel name, you get brownie points.
Unidentified Floating Object
Test your Floater Spotting Skills – What is This?
November 15, 2008
10 Comments | 
engineering | 
Permalink
Posted by Wata
Cool Photo – Grinding
November 14, 2008I thought this was a cool photo, testing out how well my manual photography exposure skills were working.
Construction grinding work
While taking this photo, I guess I was being observed by 2 HSE supervisors. I don’t know, maybe they though I was running a HSE investigation. Anyhow, they tailed me till I left the site, though they didn’t interfere with the work I was commissioned to do there. Very nice of them.
In the spirit of safety, notice that the grinding area has been barricaded off with tape
1 Comment | Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: construction, grinding | Permalink
Posted by Wata
Costing for Projects – What Price of Oil?
November 13, 2008Did you ever wonder what crude price oil companies use to determine if a project is viable or not? It’s definitely not the Malaysian government way, who say that they used USD120/barrel when the price of crude was USD140/barrel (it’s about USD65 today, 10th Nov).
The actual amount is proprietary, depending on the risk analysis and risk tolerance of the individual companies. I’ve seen in the past that a project is analysed with crude at half the current or foreseeable market price. So, those who thought oil would stabilise at USD100 could have budgeted projects to be profitable at USD50.
So, Synergy Oil & Gas Engineering Sdn Bhd has a chance to birth and mature in these trying times 🙂 (hey, it’s my blog).
1 Comment | business opportunity, engineering | Permalink
Posted by Wata
Rambling Advice on Seeking Employment
November 12, 2008I’ve compiled some of the advice I’ve given people. Take it with large doses of salt (BTW, this term came about when it was believed salt was an antidote to most poisons. Good thing chem eng came about, eh?):
- Let’s be realisitic. Is it hard to get work in the O&G industry, or is it just as hard to get work anywhere? You need to look at your qualifications and grades, your presentation skills (oral and written), your target job (highest pay not matching your skills and aptitude), your letters (writing ‘I want to join your prestigious company’ when you write to a two man startup in Subang shows lack of particular interest, not to mention lack of research). And tawakkal. Also, most companies only inform short listed candidates of success.
- As for working outside the office, a support engineer role  would be your best bet. Look at the papers for openings, esp. companies that supply good after sales service, turbomachinery, DCS systems, specialist measurement equipment.
A second option would be working for the PSC companies. Woohoo, you get more site experience then you want after a few years if you end up being a facilities or operations engineer.
- There are positions for persons (telecomm) in oil and gas. What do you consider when you mean O&G? Some big telecom companies have an O&G division. If you have customers who supply products to O&G, then that’s a way in. You can try adverts in the papers, or on the Net.
If you mean that you want to work for a big multinational that operates O&G assets, then you may be limiting yourself, as telecom is a small part of opns. If you have electronics or systems background, then that give you a larger opening.
5 Comments | Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: advice | Permalink
Posted by Wata
In Imitation of Manneken Pis
November 11, 2008I present in imitation of that famous little boy, platform pis, a sight to behold in Pasir Gudang
Platform Pis
6 Comments | Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: Pasir Gudang, SDE, Sime | Permalink
Posted by Wata
Saturday Star 2008-11-08 – Job Opportunities
November 10, 2008Another week, another scan of the Saturday Star newspaper. Here’s a list of job ads in the paper:
RasGas is looking for a planning engineer – shutdown, lead metering technician… this week’s advert seems to be technician heavy. CVs to be submitted here. I believe RasGas is a JV, one of the partners being ExxonMobil.
- Synergy Oil and Gas Engineering is recruiting fresh chemical engineering graduates, or those with around 1 year experience. CVs may be sent to enquiry@synergykl.com.my. It’s also looking for admin execs who can run the invoicing / payroll / accounting web as well as be office managers.
- RNZ are looking for engineers, Process / Civil, Structural / Mechanical / Piping / Instrument / Electrical / Pipeline. And I thought they weren’t busy. CVs to be submitted here.
- QP is looking for a lot of people. Among them are Snr Elec Eng, Lead Elec Eng, Lead Civil, Civil Eng, Head Rot Eqt, Lead Planning Eng, Costing Eng, Senior Process Eng. You can visit the QP website. Did I tell you that QP’s SWB (salary, wages, benefits) package is something to be sneezed at?
2 Comments | engineering | Tagged: QP, RasGas, RNZ, Synergy | Permalink
Posted by Wata
Petrol Prices Drop in Malaysia
November 8, 2008Taken from the pages of The Star online:Petrol prices cut by 15 sen per litre
PUTRAJAYA Oct 31: Petrol and diesel prices will go down 15 sen a litre from 12.01am on Saturday – the fourth reduction since August.
The new price of a litre of RON97 will be RM2.15 from RM2.30; RON92 will be RM2.05 from RM2.20; and diesel will be RM2.05 from RM2.20.
The prices will be reduced so that the people could enjoy the benefit of the recent drastic drop in global fuel prices, said Prime Minister Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in a statement on Friday.
The Star reported on Friday that petrol price will go down by 15sen and that petrol dealers expect another round of price cuts on Nov 15.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said that if the world crude oil price continued to drop at the present rate, local pump prices would likely revert to the pre-June price of RM1.92 per litre.
Linking to my other article on comparitive pricing, the US gas price on 6th Nov is RM2.16 per liter (USD2.328 per gallon). You wonder, why do we have a subsidy if our prices are the same as US prices?
2 Comments | Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: petrol price | Permalink
Posted by Wata
200 posts and counting
November 7, 2008Thank you all for visiting my blog. I’ve managed to reach 200 posts (in more than 200 days, I might add). Your ideas and comments, both public and private have been useful in inspiring new topics of discussion. For the engineers out there, here are the statistics:
- Total views:Â 47,538
- Total comments: 583
Or you can click on the stat counter for another tally of visitors.
1 Comment | engineering | Permalink
Posted by Wata
The Biohazard that is called Crude
November 6, 2008If you subscribe to the theory that all crude comes from organic matter that is crushed, heated and puterified for a long time, don’t you wonder if there are ancient micro-organisms lurking in it?
When you take a crude sample offshore, don’t you worry that the mist that comes of the collection container hasn’t seen the light of day for millions of years, and the last time it did it was a living organism?
Petrol, not too worried, it’s gone through a distillation tower, the heat should kill off those little critters.
Makes you want to wear a mask all the time, don’t it?
1 Comment | Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: hazard | Permalink
Posted by Wata
Saturday Star 2008-11-01 – Job Opportunities
November 5, 2008Ah, I’ve been out ill for the past week, so this entry is kinda late. Better late then never, eh?
- QP is looking for a lot of people. You can visit the QP website. Positions available are HSE Risk Man Head, Lead Safety and LP (remember those?) Eng, Senior Safety and LP engineer, Senior Fire Engineer, HSE Eng.
- There’s another QP ad as well, this time for offshore engineering opportunities. Snr Elec Eng, Sub Sea Pipeline Eng, Proj ENg, Budget & Cost Control Eng, Cost Estimating Eng, Snr Process Eng (Technology).
- Synergy Oil and Gas Engineering is recruiting fresh chemical engineering graduates, or those with around 1 year experience. CVs may be sent to enquiry@synergykl.com.my. It’s also looking for admin execs who can run the invoicing / payroll / accounting web as well as be office managers.
- Saudi Aramco is looking for people. Drilling Eng, Drilling Supv, Production and Facilities Specialist, NGL Process Eng Specialist, Upstream Crude Processing, Process Modeling Specialist (I aspire to this), O&G Prod/Planning Specialist, Process Eng Specialist. You can send your CVs to aramcojobs@melorita.com (so that’s what Melorita does), or Contact Armand Abdullah at +60379542764. Drop my name, please. It’s the same ad as last week, so’s my writeup.
- Ranhill Worley is looking for people, leads and seniors for mechanical, pipe stress, piping, structural and civil engineers. Queries can be sent to my.recruitment@ranhill-worley.com.my
1 Comment | engineering, Malaysia, oil and gas | Tagged: Aramco, QP, Ranhill, Synergy, Worley Parsons | Permalink
Posted by Wata
